1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to air-swing ball games. More particularly, the present invention relates to an air-swing ball game in which a ball suspended by string is swung by a player in an attempt to knock down a plurality of pins on a playing surface.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
Games in which a player attempts to knock down a number of tokens or pins by swinging a ball attached to a string at one end and to an elevated arm at the other are well known in the prior art. One such game is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 979,598 to Thimm, which illustrates a number of pins, which stand on a pad, and a ball suspended from a spring or rope, which are attached to a horizontal arm. To play the game, a player pulls down on the ball, thereby energizing the spring and then swings the ball toward the pins in an effort to knock them over. The pins aligned with the natural arc of the swinging ball are relatively easy to knock over, due to their relationship with the natural swing of the ball by the player. Different games having different levels of difficulty can be divised by ordering the pins differently, or specifying which particular pins need to be knocked down in order to win.
Another device of this general type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,371,831 to Workman, which employs a compactly foldable game apparatus involving the exercise of a certain degree of skill involving the principle of the operation of a universally mounted pendulum which is used to knock down pins, that stand on an elevated platform in the playing surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 712,923, to Frysinger, disclosed a pendulum-type ball swing game in which the object is to kncok over a plurality of pins with a ball attached to a string and a supporting arm, thereby forming a pendulum, with the pins freely resting upon the base, which has a plurality of marked spots, which may be painted, stained, or otherwise marked, for designating the proper spot to place a pin.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,726,524, to Prischak et al., disclosed a tethered ball bowling game in which the object is to knock down a plurality of pins, with a ball suspended from a string, which is attached to an elevated arm disposed somewhat above the horizontal. In Prischak, the string is not fixedly attached to the supporting arm, but is affixed to a ring which slides along the length of the arm during a stroke by the player, thereby changing the suspension point of the ball.
This prior art does not, however, suggest an air swing ball game having a plurality of differently shaped pin-holder plates wherein the holder plates include depending pegs for alignment with peg hols in a game table, for quick and accurate positioning of the pin holder-plate, combined with color-coded spots in pins to designate the proper position for each pin, wherein each color of pin has a corresponding weighted point value and the horizontal suspension arm includes a plurality of space hooks, any one of which the string holding the ball may be suspended from, thereby making the game more difficult or easier.
Therefore, a significant need exists for an air-swing ball game in which the level of difficulty can be changed by changing the position of the ball and string relative to the pins, different shapes of pin-holder plates are included to permit flexibility as to the difficulty of the game, and wherein the holder plates are quickly and accurately placed in their proper position by mating depending pegs on the bottom surface of the holder plate into corresponding holes in the game surface itself.